


The Ballad of Rekkr and Thrasir

by Thorinsmut, werpiper



Series: Touch [3]
Category: The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Battle, Complete, F/M, Gen, One-Shot, Tragedy, fic-adjacent lore, found document, poetry/song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 03:05:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13472394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thorinsmut/pseuds/Thorinsmut, https://archiveofourown.org/users/werpiper/pseuds/werpiper
Summary: There is a piece of well-scraped parchment, scoured and rescoured until it was useful only for scrap, that has fallen behind a desk in Ori's room, and been forgotten."The Ballad of Rekkr and Thrasir, as recalled just now by Ori son of Kori. It has been on my mind ever since Nori and Dwalin married."it begins, and launches into the iconic verses with no more preamble.We, the authors, offer an English translation of the Khuzdul document.





	The Ballad of Rekkr and Thrasir

**Author's Note:**

> I have been meaning to write this Ballad ever since I wrote Touch all those years ago. Thanks to my dear Piper, who polished and adjusted the verses I wrote and wrote the verses I could not, it's finally a thing in the world that you can read! I couldn't have done it without her.
> 
> The song/poem is meant to roughly map to Heidi Talbot's "Dearest Johnny" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyHEUiwZ6tA>
> 
> Please enjoy,  
> <3  
> TS
> 
>  
> 
> ...writing my bits of this was basically fanfic mad libs: "here's the bit where the other army shows up, this is how many syllables and where the accents fall", plus a tiny bit of googling for canon. easiest author points i ever earned! i am delighted that this is a finished thing now, and to have gotten to play a part in that; i hope y'all have fun with it too.
> 
> love,  
> \--piper

* * *

 

There is piece of well-scraped parchment, scoured and rescoured until it was useful only for scrap, that has fallen behind a desk in Ori's room, and been forgotten.

Upon it is a writing exercise, very scratchy and difficult to read. First Ori's name, several times, and several times smudged, and then " _Curse my left hand, and curse this broken collarbone!_ " This, also, is smeared. It is followed by a rough doodle of an angry face, and then a few inches of practice work of the sort the rawest scribe apprentices are set to copy. Short straight lines, repeating over and over, a different row for each different stroke practiced. Then a few rows of loops and curls.

The marks are all extremely inconsistent, and this section of the parchment ends with a large ink blotch and " _Bugger all!_ "

* * *

 

The next segment is in different ink, likely added at a later date. The writing is still clumsy, but much improved from the first.

" _The Ballad of Rekkr and Thrasir, as recalled just now by Ori son of Kori. It has been on my mind ever since Nori and Dwalin married_." it begins, and launches into the iconic verses with no more preamble.

* * *

 

Gather close around me, I will sing of love to you

Bold warriors together, how in love and death were true.

Hear you now of Rekkr, strongest fighter of the age

and of Thrasir's dwindling army, against Mordor's growing rage

 

Thrasir held Barazinbar, orcish armies swarming in

Guarding the retreat of his people and his kin.

Rekkr heard his battle cry, flying banners o’er the siege.

No kinship made her loyal, yet she joined in their melee.

 

Chorus:

Crying, "Fly my glossy ravens, may the winds lend you their speed.

Carry word out to my brothers, now, and tell them of our need.

And the enemy have numbers thousands greater than our own,

but we will stand and fight until the last dwarf is cast down."

 

_I always get chills on the first chorus. As a child I was always hoping that the dear ravens would fly fast enough this time, and bring help in time to save them. But that's not how the legend goes, is it? -O_

 

Her hair in funeral braids, Rekkr fought prepared to die

And she won a dozen battles that should not have been survived.

And the band who followed with her, fearsome warriors one and all

Fought beside and held the pass until they left for Mahal’s Hall.

 

The battle raged by day and night, dwarves fell beneath their shields

But Rekkr’s band of warrior dwarves were not alone to yield

“Go my raven friends to wing, bear ye witness to my plea

Ask my kin to join in battle, and I know they'll come to me."

 

Chorus:

Crying, "Fly my glossy ravens, may the winds lend you their speed.

Carry word out to my brothers, now, and tell them of our need.

And the enemy have numbers thousands greater than our own,

but we will stand and fight until the last dwarf is cast down."

 

_There's a handful more verses in here. I know there are. All the terribly brave and bloody battle verses and I haven't a clue what they are at the moment. -O_

 

The third night brought no rest, they had no food and had no drink

And they prayed for their dead, and listened to the orc drums speak.

"You have battled well," said Thrasir, "Your heart you've proven strong.

Go with your band, we'll guard your back, and surely die by dawn."

 

_You can sing these songs your whole life, but you never really know what it feels like to take a last stand until you're there yourself. -O_

 

But Rekkr only laughed, knocked her brow against his brow.

"We've fought long and hard together, and I will not leave you now.

Now take my arm in yours, so joined your folk and mine shall be.

A dwarf so true I'd marry, and die back to back with thee."

 

Chorus:

Crying, "Fly my glossy ravens, may the winds lend you their speed.

Carry word out to my brothers, now, and tell them of our need.

And the enemy have numbers thousands greater than our own,

But we will stand and fight until the last dwarf is cast down."

 

Bridge:

So were they battle-wedded, so with joy their soldiers sang.

Though the fighting never ceased, and their shields and axes rang.

When dawn lit the horizon, her brothers' armies came

But here lies Rekkr cold and dead, with Thrasir dead the same.

Here lies the warrior cold and dead, her husband dead the same!

 

_I think the instrumental section that goes after the bridge is in case the singer needs time to wipe their tears. - O_

 

The orcish army dwindled, there were few who lived to run

Barazinbar was saved from Mordor, the dwarvish armies won.

Rekkr’s brothers mourned their sister and the brother they had lost.

We'll never fall to evil, no matter what the cost.

 

Two armies joined together, as one people they lived on

Rekkr’s folk and Thrasir’s, like the notes inside the song.

 

Chorus:

And oh you trusty ravens, sharp your mind and quick your wing

Never forget these warriors brave, of them we'll always sing.

Though our enemies may number thousands greater than our own

We will love, marry, and fight until the last dwarf is cast down.

 

_They teach this as a love song, you know. It's supposed to be romantic? But I think that's just because they died poetically. If they had lived, I don't think Rekkr and Thrasir would have made a good marriage at all. They hardly knew each other._

_I believe the scholars who claim the marriage was an entirely political move on Rekkr's part, gaining sanctuary for Thrasir's people in death as she could not in life, have the right of it. Her kin could hardly turn Thrasir's away after that!_

_If you want real romance, I don't think you have to look further than Nori and Dwalin. Which reminds me, that poet wanted to talk to me about the Quest again. Mustn't forget to catch up with hir. Together, we can write a love story that's_ really _worth singing. - O_

* * *

 

There is nothing else written on the worn old piece of parchment.

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love!  
> (But please no more comments that ignore the fact that there are _two_ authors on this fic! -TS)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Protector](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3912730) by [syntheticcathedral](https://archiveofourown.org/users/syntheticcathedral/pseuds/syntheticcathedral), [Thorinsmut](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thorinsmut/pseuds/Thorinsmut)




End file.
